Unfathomable!
by kressn
Summary: A unfathomable choice to be made.


**_Sorry I've been out of touch lately; busy little bee, what can I say._**

 ** _I hope you enjoy this little Mac fiction._**

He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as he ran; it was like a full set of drums was pounding away inside his body. He focused on the pounding, it gave him something else to focus on rather than the fear he was feeling. "I'm coming kids, I'm coming" he said in his head. He ran faster.

Riley was standing behind Mac. He had placed himself in front of her and between her and the four angry men currently aiming a gun at their heads, to protect her. Riley was not afraid of death, not really, but she did not necessarily want to die just yet; she was wondering how they were going to get out of this mess, Mac's voice brought her out of her reverie.

"Look, just put the guns down", Mac said to the over-fed goons currently threatening them; "There is no need for any more people to get hurt", he made eye contact with their leader, the one in the middle hoping to get through to him. "We can give you all your money back and a bit extra for your trouble" (Money they had taken in addition to retrieving some computer files during their last mission, they figured it would be used to fund more killings so taking it made sense at the time).

The leader of the goons glared at Mac, his eyes filled with hatred and disgust, he took a step forward and yelled' "This is not about just the money anymore; you made a fool of me, and that I will not allow, not now, not ever"

Riley could not help but wince at the loudness of the man's tirade. She instinctively grabbed Mac's forearm tightly just as they both took a step back. She glanced behind her, they were inches from the edge of a very, very, large cliff.

"Look, at least let the girl go" Mac said, "She has nothing to do with this, she is just some girl we paid to help us find our way in town" If he could at least save Riley he thought, it would not all be a bad thing; Jac would take comfort in still having her he thought.

"Silence!" the man yelled. "No one is going anywhere, anywhere but down" he said with a glance towards the cliff, a smirk on his face. He started walking towards them, his goons in tow, Mac and Riley stepped back again until there was no more ground left. Once he was nose to nose with Mac he held out his right hand, "keys" he said. Mac fished the car keys out of his pocket and handed them over. The man then punched Mac in the stomach, hard enough to where he nearly tossed Riley over the cliff; "Mac!" she yelled holding on to him as he doubled over in pain. The goons smiled.

Jack could see them from where he was, they were tiny dots in the distance, but he would know the kids, his kids, anywhere. He needed them to hold on for two more minutes, just two more minutes. He ran faster.

"Stand up!" the man demanded of Mac who complied slowly, trying to catch his breath. The man hit him on the side of his head with the butt of his riffle; Mac went down hard, unconscious this time. Riley screamed and came down with him, wrapping herself on top of Mac protectively. "Stop it!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face, "stop hurting him!", she ran a hand over Mac's head, lightly shaking him to see if he would wake "you have the keys, the car, the money and the files, leave us alone and go before Jack gets here; you don't want to be in his sights if you hurt either of us, trust me!"

The men smiled at that. "Oh, we will let you go little girl", the goons' leader spat, then he nodded towards his men and looked over toward the cliff. The men grabbed her and the still unconscious Mac and walked them back to the edge of the cliff; they then tied a very thin rope around each of their hips before literally tossing them over the edge. Riley screamed, Mac just moaned as they both hit the ground, dangling over held by a rope that was frayed and would not hold them for long.

"Let's go!" she heard the goons say. The leader looked over the edge at her one more time and said, "let's see which one of you goes first little girl"; he laughed as he walked towards the car.

Jack saw the car leave, he was not concerned with that right now, he or a Phoenix TAC team will deal with those idiots later, right now all he cared about was his kids. He finally was close enough to realize that neither Mac nor Riley were visible. He came to a screeching halt about 30 feet from the edge and yelled, "Mac, Riley!"

Jack, it was Jack! Riley breathed a sigh of relief. "Over here!" she yelled. She looked up as Jack approached the edge.

"Hi kiddo" Jack said, smiling at her, she smiled back. Jack then glanced at Mac who was hanging limply over the edge, suspended by only the thin rope; he knew he had to act fast for the rope was not going to hold them too much longer. He was about to start getting them up when Riley's expression changed, eyes wide, she looked up and behind him. Jack reacted a split second too late to stop the gun from being pointed at his head.

"You must be Jack" the goons' leader said as he cocked the pistol he was holding at Jack's head. Jack then saw the other men were now pointing guns at both Riley and Mac.

"Yeah, I'm Jack", Jack said with barely controlled fury. "Who the hell are you?" He glared at the man.

"I'm the one that is going to make you live your worst nightmare"; the man then grabbed Jack's shirt collar and dragged him back to where Jack landed butt first on the ground facing the cliff. "Chose one" he told Jack.

"What?" Jack asked, not sure what the hell the man was talking about?

"Chose one" the man repeated, "you will have to chose one of the kids to save" The man glanced at his men, "you will only be allowed to save one of them Mr. Jack; that will be your punishment for embarrassing me in front of my men"

Jack could not believe what he was hearing, choose between Riley or Mac? How could he? At that point Riley screamed as the rope gave way some and she dropped a few inches.

"You can either chose one and save him or her, or you can sit there and watch them both go down" The man smiled like he had just told Jack to chose between a Hawaiian vacation or a trip to Rome. "Which one Mr. Jack?" the men laughed at the look of shock and terror on Jack's face.

"CHOOSE, NOW!" "Which one lives…'Jack'…?" the ringleader yelled.

 _"The boy"_ Jack said quietly, thinking that maybe if he said it quietly enough Riley would not hear those words come out of his mouth as she plunged to her death. Not die knowing she chose Mac instead.

"What? louder, Who?" No such luck apparently. Jack cleared his throat. Riley screamed as both her and Mac's rope gave way again, ready to snap and toss them both into the abyss.

 **"THE BOY" he** screamed just as the men grabbed Mac's rope and pulled the boy over onto solid ground and Riley's rope gave way. Jack could hear her screaming as she plummeted down to the ground thousands of feet away. "Riley!" Mac screamed, choosing that moment to regain consciousness. "Jack! What did you do?" Mac asked him, he was pale as a ghost, breathing hard, tears streaming shamelessly down his cheeks, "Jack!"

He felt a set of hands on his shoulders shaking him softly, "Jack" he heard Riley say. He opened his eyes and found himself stretched out on one of the jet's couches with both Riley and Mac staring down at him.

"Come on old man" Mac said stretching a hand over to help him up off the couch, "We're home, time to go" Mac smiled and heaved Jack up off the couch, nearly toppling over when Jack screamed "Mac!, Riley!" and somehow managed to stand and immediately engulf both his kids in a bear hug, pulling them both in so tight he would have melded with them if he could. He then planted a kiss on both their foreheads, tears in his eyes. BOTH his kids were OK, there were safe; it was just a horrible nightmare.

"J..a…c..k.. I can't b..rea..the" Riley said. Jack let her go, he then looked at Mac who was looking at him with worry on his face. "Jack, you OK?" Mac asked as he placed a hand on Jack's shoulder, locking eyes with the older Delta to try and gage what was going on.

"Sorry baby girl" he said to Riley as he planted another kiss on her forehead and softly caressed her face. "I'm perfect, I'm great!" he said to Mac, patting the boy on the back. "Let's go home!" he said to both now very confused kids as he started to walk out of the plane. He took one last look down at the couch he had been sleeping on as he shuddered at the thought of having to ever make such a choice; to chose one of his kids over the other. Part of him wondered, if it had been real, would he make the same choice? Could he?

He was not a religious man, but he prayed to whatever Deity may be paying attention that he never has to make such an unfathomable choice.


End file.
